Taste: Spinach salad with craisins, walnuts, avocado, blueberries and an olive oil/balsamic vinegar dressing that I ate almost every day for lunch. Also, the Adventure Trail Mix from Aldi that got me through all the late night feedings.

Smell: New baby, of course. Also, spit up. And the dirty diaper of an exclusively breastfed baby, which I’ve heard likened to buttered popcorn.

Sight: Fiona. All Fiona. Drinking in every chubby roll, every tiny toe, every micro-expression.

There are other sights, sounds, and smells that bring back similarly distinct memories for me.

For instance, the smell of wild honeysuckle immediately makes me think of my childhood playing for hours in the backyard on a summer’s day, picking honeysuckle blossoms and sucking the “honey” out of them.

The crunch and squeak of really cold snow underfoot reminds me of so many winter days spent skiing as a kid.

The sight of palm trees reminds me of spring breaks spent camping in Florida at Fort De Soto park.

As I contemplated these things, I began to realize that I could curate these sensory memories. If I want to remember a special time in my life a certain way, I could actually choose what sights, sounds, smells, etc. to surround myself with. At Christmastime, I can choose the scent of pine and the taste of hot chocolate. If I only put a little forethought into this, I could create this.

In fact, I have the ability to create these experiences for my daughter.

So, this spring, what’s on my list? What do I want her to associate with her childhood springs?